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By now we all know someone, maybe even ourselves, who has benefitted from coaching. Much of the time individuals will seek out a coach for a particular skill set or problem area that has been identified in 360-degree evaluations or other feedback. Sometimes the organization will offer coaching to those who have been selected for remedial work, or those who show high potential and need some fast-tracking to get them ready for their next promotion.

But neither of those describe a coaching culture, and that’s not a surprise. Only 17% of respondents to an International Coaching Federation survey (purchase required) in 2016 said theirs was a coaching culture. That’s up from 15% the year previous but still, people! We’re missing a big boat here.

There’s an extremely strong case to be made for building an entire coaching culture where anyone has access to coaching and there is no stigma to being coached. So what does that entail?

As always, it starts with building a coaching strategy that is aligned with the organization’s business strategy and organizational culture. Then that strategy must be clearly and frequently communicated. Leadership must actively support coaching and align the coaching with organizational culture change.

Additionally, to have a strong coaching culture you must recruit or create a strong bench of internal and external coaches. Coaching favors group coaching and organizational learning and development over formalized individual sessions, and coaching becomes the predominant style for managing performance. Coaching also is embedded in HR systems and performance management, and again, that is clearly communicated throughout the organization.

I’ve worked with individuals who have sought out coaching personally and with those whose organizations value coaching for all their staff, and there is a difference. First of all, those who seek out coaching do so in secret, rarely revealing they are availing themselves of outside support. That also means they take on the burden of paying the hourly fees. On the other hand, those who have come to me through their organizations, regardless if it was for remedial or fast-tracking support, have all expressed gratitude for the investment their organizations have made in their well-being and career advancement. And, of course, the company pays the bills.

So it’s easy to see how we benefit, as individuals, from coaching support, however it comes our way. But why should an organization want to become a coaching culture? Because the presence of coaching, and the acceptance that we all need a hand from time to time, builds stronger teams, and stronger teams build stronger organizations, more loyal employees and greater trust among teams.

If you ask people working in a strong coaching culture, they’ll also tell you the indicators that show it’s working include:

• Improved team functioning: 57%

• Increased employee engagement: 56%

• Increased productivity: 51%

• Improved employee relations: 45%

• Faster leadership development: 36%

There are three primary modalities to utilize when creating a coaching culture: external coaches, internal coaches and managers/leaders using coaching skills. Those who have found the greatest benefit are those who know which one to unleash at what time. Sixty-four percent of organizations with existing strong coaching cultures use all three modalities, while only 33% of other organizations do.

If I asked you to doodle on your paper, you’d come up with some great reasons to use internal coaches — things like an awareness of the existing culture including what works and what doesn’t, linking to other opportunities for work and learning in the organization and the ability to empathize with some of the organization’s challenges, as well as it being more economical.

According to leading expert Peter Hawkins, the advantages of external coaches include:

• A fresh external perspective, more able to see the taken-for-granted culture and assumptions than those who are part of the organization.

• Independent and can ensure greater impartiality and confidentiality

• Less likely to collude.

• Will be able to bring awareness of best practices from a wider range of organizations.

• More acceptable for senior executives who find it difficult to be coached internally for personal and political reasons.

It’s very helpful to establish an external and internal pool of coaches and to have a policy that dictates when it’s appropriate to go to one or the other. Typically, you will want to go to external coaches when the leader is a very senior person, when there are confidentiality issues or high-profile people or issues, or when you want to draw on a particular coach’s experience as a mentor/advisor by looking at someone with knowledge and experience specific to the need.

When working on an internal coaching pool, think about the four main areas where, according to Hawkins, you will use one of your own people to coach a colleague or peer:

• Manager as a coach: The line manager draws on a coaching mindset and skill set.

• Crisis intervention: An employee may present to their line manager or HR an issue that may have erupted as some form of personal crisis (e.g., bereavement, alcoholism, drug abuse, depression or relationship issue). This has also been considered counseling at work.

• Coach as a change agent: Individuals working in a change capacity, perhaps on a strategic initiative lasting a number of months or years.

• Development coaching: An individual who offers development or remedial coaching to employees of the same organization, as a recognized part of their job description

If you are not engaging in coaching, look at your people and see if they would benefit. If you are already doing individual coaching, you are on the road to maximize the benefit by moving toward employing a coaching culture. Like any culture change, it’s a journey. We’ll look at how to move toward the goal in another article.